The present invention relates generally to row crop cultivation and more particularly to a shield unit for mounting on a standard disc cultivator which guides the plants in the field being cultivated away from being run over by the disc cultivator.
Those in the agricultural industry concerned with the growing of crops and particularly with the cultivating of the field have long been aquainted with the problems encountered when trying to cultivate a field on a windy day. Typically, a disc cultivator will be used to cultivate a corn field when the young corn plants are approximately 2 to 12 inches high. When the young corn plants are at this fragile stage, the stocks are not yet sufficiently developed to withstand wind gusts in excess of 15 miles per hour, and they will lean in the wind with a pronounced oscillation in the direction of the wind. When this condition exists, the agriculturalist is faced with a decision of either delaying cultivation and thereby loosing valuable time, or cultivating in the windy conditions and partially burying a substantial number of the young plants thereby endangering production. This dilemma is particularly accute in the Midwest where many row corps are grown and Spring and Summer winds tend to blow quite high across the plains.
In the past, various disc cultivators have been developed which protect young plants from being covered by stones and clods which may be cast up by cultivator blades, but they have done little towards protecting against wind damage during the cultivating process. For the typical agriculturalist, time is an extremely important factor, and the loss of work days due to adverse weather conditions can severely affect the crop yield. The majority of farmers do not have sufficient man power or equipment to cultivate their entire planting on ideal weather condition days, and with the high cost of farm equipment, the farmer must either gamble that there will be a sufficient number of good working days for cultivation in the growing year, or be prepared to be in the fields under less than ideal conditions.
The world wide food shortages, as well as the already high cost of food production has rapidly increased the need for improved crop production methods. The small scale farmer as well as the large corporate farm have a need for equipment which increases the amount of time that can be spent in the fields without endangering the yield.